The present invention relates to a wholesome food product and meal substitute, with a nutritional balance that makes it appropriate for weight maintenance or weight loss, and which provides a therapeutic benefit for medical/surgical patients.
There are many commercially available weight loss, or diet, drinks. Products such as Slimfast(trademark) and Nestle""s Success(trademark) claim to be low calorie, high energy, meal substitutes. In fact, diet drinks in this category range from about 200 calories to about 300 calories per serving, or meal. In addition, they contain a large amount of sugar, which with the milk solids are intended to provide the energy of a meal. SlimFast(trademark) Strawberries and Cream, for example, has 220 calories, with 42 g. of carbohydrate, 37 g. of sugar, and 5 g. of fiber, in an 11-oz. serving. The theory behind these diet drinks is reduction in fat, control of serving size, and sense of fullness created by thickeners such as cellulose gums.
All these drinks are fortified; for example, the Slimfast(trademark) Strawberries Nxe2x80x2 Cream is said to be fortified with 23 vitamins and minerals, but the approximately 22 g. of added sugar places a price on the nutrition.
Recent developments in the diet field indicate that the benefits of xe2x80x9clow fatxe2x80x9d diets have not been achieved by replacing fat calories with calories from simple sugars or refined carbohydrates. It is now concluded that the health benefits demonstrated by low fat diets were the result of substituting vegetable and fruit calories for fat calories. In addition, it appears that this misinterpretation of the xe2x80x9clow fatxe2x80x9d diet has lead to sharp increases in obesity and diabetes. The food products of the present invention do not have added sugar which address these issues.
Sugar in excess of immediate energy needs is disadvantageous to the body. Not only can it be deposited as fat in the body; it triggers insulin release, which has been shown to be associated with a generally lower immune response. In addition, recent research shows that women who have had breast cancer run an 8-fold increase in recurrence if they have high levels of blood sugar and insulin. It is believed that the insulin molecule, attaches to a receptor on the breast tissue cell wall, and converts the cell to a cancer cell.
At this time it is not known how many types of cell receptors can be activated by insulin, and how often the results are cancerous. What is known, is that simple sugars do not contain the macro and micro nutrients present in food, and cannot provide the health and immunity benefits of these nutrients.
Another type of meal substitute product is Carnation""s Instant Breakfast(trademark); a dry mix containing added sugar, which when added to milk to provide a vitamin fortified quick, breakfast meal substitute. Many of these diet drink/meal substitute product lines have complementary snack bar products. People using these products have met with mixed success in both losing weight and maintaining the weight loss.
Another line of diet/meal substitute drinks replaces fat with protein. These drinks may, or may not, contain carbohydrates in any substantial amount. The xe2x80x9cCambridge Dietxe2x80x9d products are perhaps the best known in this category. More recently, the Atkins and Zone Diet theories have produced another round of diet drinks with higher protein and/or fat, but lower, or no, carbohydrates. Carbolite""s soy shakes contain absolutely no carbohydrates; their only food source being protein. Again, people using these products are meeting with mixed success in both losing weight and maintaining the weight loss. In addition, many individual choose, or are advised, to limit their fat intake, and not all bodies digest protein easily.
The prior art diet/meal substitute drinks were often suggested as a nutritional addition or supplement to a regular diet. Newer commercial products, such as Ensure(trademark), claim merely to be nutritional supplement to the daily diet, not a weight maintenance or weight loss product. However, their nutrition also comes at the expense of high levels of added sugar.
Nutritional additions to diet, such as Ensure(trademark), and therapeutic meal substitutes, are also used in hospitals and other medical facilities as part of a program to maintain or increase the strength and health of patients. Nutritional meals for e.g. heart patients typically combine vitamin and/or mineral supplements with a high carbohydrate but low fat drink. Mead Johnson""s proprietary drinks Ensure and Ensure Light, available to hospitals, have good protein levels, and the light contains little fat, but they both contain lots of added sugar. Other xe2x80x9cnutritionalsxe2x80x9d include low sodium formulas, for heart patients, which contain substantial added sugar.
Another diet food product category is the low calorie snack. Alba(trademark) Dietary Shake Mix provides a low calorie (non-fat) substitute for a milk shake, made by mixing a powdered mix with water, for a 70 calorie shake, or water and milk, for a 120 calorie shake. A comparison with non-fat powdered milk shows that some of the sugars and protein of non-fat dry milk have, in Alba shakes, been replaced with fibrous substances that add bulk but not calories. Though not intended as a meal substitute, it is intended to be a wholesome food product, and provides a significant amount of calcium and vitamin D. Alba(trademark) shakes, and other low calorie snack products can be used a weight loss or weight maintenance diet aids.
xe2x80x9cFat Burnersxe2x80x9d fall into three categories: fibrous substances which immobilize fats, such as glucomannan; thermogenic agents which increase the metabolic rate and convert body fat to energy, such as L-Carnitine; and fat directors which inhibit lipogenesis (deposition of unburned fat), such as Chromium and the HCA from Garcinia Cambogia.
Lite Bites(trademark) snack bars contain sugar, and the fat burners Chromium Pincolinate, Garcinia Cambogia (the extract from this plant is HCA or Hydroxycitrate), and L-Carnitine. They have 160 calories, and 30 g carbohydrate per bar, with 2 grams of fiber.
Lite Bites Classic(trademark) snack bars are described on the internet as the lower fat, lower calorie bar, lacking the chocolate coating of Lite Bites. Lite Bites also sells a powdered shake mix, containing the three fat burners, Chromium Pincolinate, Garcinia Cambogia (also called HCA or Hydroxycitrate), and L-Carnitine.
Forever SliM(trademark) capsules contain the same three fat burners as Lite Bites; however, the ingredients include cellulose, a bulking agent, and wild Mexican yam. The capsules are to be taken 3xc3x97 a day, with 8 oz. of water, hopefully creating 8 ounces of stomach satiating bulk.
Berry Trim Plus(copyright) capsules contain herbs, vitamins and minerals, including the fat-burners L-Carnitine, Chromium Pincolinate, and CITRIN(copyright) (which may work as an HCA-type fat-burner). The capsules also include a minor amount of cellulose fiber, but not enough to be considered a bulking agent.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,048,532 claims a weight loss composition containing sugar and the combination of a fat burner (L-Carnitine) and the bulking agent glucomannan. There are a number of patents that disclose diet foods containing multiple fat burners, with or without sweeteners. U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,992 discloses a diet substance containing a thermogenic fat burner, and a fat burner that inhibits lipogenesis, with an herbal appetite suppressant.
Vitamin/mineral supplements, generally, are helpful additions to the everyday diet; however, most do not address the uncommon nutritional deficiencies that can result in weight gain. Mass market diet convenience foods have not dealt with this issue.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a wholesome food product or meal substitute, with low calories, low sugar, fiber, and nutritional supplementation. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a healthier, and more successful, diet plan and diet food product with broad nutritional supplementation, fat burners, and fiber.
The present invention comprises wholesome food products containing non-fat milk, at least one fat burner, and an artificial sweetener. When made into a shake drink they have about 110 calories per 12 ounces. When made into a pudding they may contain tetrasodium pyrophosphate. As a frozen dietary dessert they have less than about 20 calories per ounce, but still contain no added sugar; the additional calories coming almost exclusively from milk. By use of the milk and added nutrients, but no added sugar, the food products of the present invention have about one-half, or less, calories than the carbohydrate based commercial meal substitute diet foods. These products are ideally suited for use in a satiation weight loss or weight maintenance program. These wholesome food products also contain essential vitamins and minerals, and preferably, trace minerals.
The preferred weight loss or weight maintenance food products contain nonfat milk, at least two fat directors, at least one fat immobilizer, and an artificial sweetener, with no added sugar, and have about 110 calories per 12 ounces. More preferably, the fat immobilizer is glucomannan. The present invention also includes a weight loss or weight maintenance method based on a repletion and satiation food plan, comprising at least 3 meals a day, a number of very low calorie snacks, and at least 4 portions of the food products of the present invention.